Khabib Nurmagomedov challenged Floyd Mayweather Jr. to prove who the real ‘king’ is. Mayweather answered the challenge, but that did not mean the former boxer nicknamed Money really took into account Khabib and wanted to prove who was the best.
Mayweather is a phenomenon. He is great, qualified, and invincible. A plus from him, he is a boxer with an antagonistic image and defensive style so that it looks increasingly annoying and annoying.
With an antagonistic stamp, the public is always looking forward to who can defeat Mayweather. Year after year passed, the figure never came. Whereas great boxers have had a ring with him, ranging from Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Angel Cotto, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Marcos Maidana, to Manny Pacquiao.
Duel against Pacquiao is the culmination of Mayweather’s achievements in boxing. He successfully defeated Pacman who was considered a representative of the heroic figure. In addition to winning in the ring, Mayweather also managed to win a big pay in boxing history when holding a match against Pacquiao.
Seeing that there are no more interesting things in the boxing world, Mayweather retired by holding a ceremonial match against Andre Berto who didn’t deserve to be the climax of his career.
Duel Mayweather’s opponent, Pacquiao is actually the peak of a big name in the boxing world. After the two fighters met, the boxing world seemed to lose boxers who have high selling value and could become the world’s public magnet.
On the other hand, the UFC event continues to stretch and become a new idol. Names like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor stole the world’s public attention.
Mayweather captures this business opportunity. With an invincible status and antagonistic image, he was able to realize the duel against Conor McGregor which seemed impossible to materialize because both were different disciplines.
McGregor was willing to fight with boxing rules and Mayweather was able to exploit this fight so it would look awesome. The big pay was received by both parties. McGregor’s explosive nature and frequent provocations made some people who were convinced that the Irish Republican was able to give a surprise.
In the end McGregor was able to survive long enough to beat Mayweather before losing to TKO in the 10th round. But with the Mayweather KO / TKO victory percentage which is fairly low, it then feels natural.
A year after the duel against McGregor, Mayweather had surprised the public with a statement that he wanted to do a rematch against Pacquiao when they were both in Japan some time ago. But then the direction of the wind changed with Khabib’s victory over McGregor.
Khabib was in the spotlight, despite the controversy after the fight, and he became the main UFC star. Something he had not received before despite holding an invincible status.
Khabib then challenged Mayweayther. The American boxer also saw an attractive business opportunity before his eyes. With the status of Khabib who is now transformed into a new UFC star, there will be huge coffers imagined before his eyes. Khabib has a different character from McGregor. When McGregor got used to trash talk and often uttered provocative sentences, Khabib was a protagonist who preferred to talk with a blow over the battlefield.
The nature of Khabib’s true fighter will boost the sale value of the fight against Mayweather. There will be many people who are curious to see the possibility of Mayweather’s perfect record can be destroyed at the hands of the Khabib. Mayweather has given a limit that he just wants to fight in the boxing arena. Mayweather considered himself to be a challenged figure so that the challenger alias Khabib had to appear in the boxing world.
Mayweather didn’t seem to intend to really prove who the true king was between himself and the Khabib. Money clearly said that the main reason he wanted the duel against Khabib was because of the big shadow of money he might get. If Mayweather is a person with a great fighting instinct, he would not hesitate to try a duel against Khabib in the UFC arena. Moreover, before McGregor as a representative of the UFC had dared to plunge into the world of boxing.
But Mayweather is a figure of combat with detailed calculations. He wants to pay big, but also with a small risk that he will lose his invincible status. If Mayweather wants to play in the UFC arena, the chance of winning for him will be greater than if Khabib had to fight in the boxing arena. Mayweather’s boxing without the heavy boxing gloves he used to wear would certainly be more powerful. It is not impossible that a direct hit can make Khabib lie down.
But Khabib will find a steep road if he fights in a boxing ring. As a UFC fighter, Khabib is known as a fighter who has advantages in ground fight and lockdown. Against McGregor, Khabib is not even lulled to exchange blows and fight in a standing fight position. Not to mention Khabib’s blow will be reduced because he has to wear thicker boxing gloves than in the UFC.
McGregor alone who relied on a blow when fighting in the UFC, difficult to penetrate Mayweather’s defense. Not only McGregor, top boxers have not been able to break Mayweather’s defense.
But it looks like Khabib will gladly accept the mission against Mayweather in the boxing arena. Although it looks like a suicide mission, but at least this is a beautiful suicide mission because of the big lure that can be 10 times the payment he received for one time fighting in the UFC.
